Guidelines for INFECTION CONTROL POLICY - Safdarjung Hospital

MAINTENANCE OF EQUIPMENTMaintenance of Incinerators is done by CPWD Electrical Engineers. The operator posted byCPWD is maintaining the record of the operations of incinerator, temperature of the incineratorchambers and hours of operation of the incinerator as per CPCB requirements. The parametersare recorded everyday, manually at present under supervision of junior Engineer CPWD(Electrical) and Sanitary Supervisor (S. S) and are available for inspection any time.OPERATING PARAMETERS OF EQUIPMENT :The incinerator and microwave operate as per parameters give by BMW Guidelines. Culture ofthe treated waste is periodically performed and monitored.STORAGE AT THE MAIN WASTE STORAGE SITE :There is adequate space to store the wastes transported from various clinical areas while awaitingfinal treatment and disposal. In the storage areas, wastes are stacked with clear distinction asper the color coding of the waste. There is warning signboard prominently placed at the entrance.Adequate security and guarded gate is provided at the facility to prevent unauthorized accessto the site by humans and livestock. The premise has provision for locking. The site hassufficient electricity and water supply. There is adequate open space for municipal trucks tohave easy access for collection.QUANTIFICATION :Counting of bags and verifying with the labels from each area is done at the collection siteby the staff posted there. The yellow bags containing the infectious waste are counted andthe number is confirmed from the receipt from each area. After this the weighing of all yellow/blue is done. The data is recorded and maintained area-wise/Department-wise.TREATMENT :After this all the Yellow bags are directly sent for incineration. Ash from the incineratoris collected in black bags and kept along with the general waste. The waste is non toxic andnon infectious, and is taken by civic authorities.The blue bags containing disposable plastic (Syringes, IV canulas and bottles) are dulyverified in number from the receipt at the site. The infected plastics and gloves are then putin the microwave for disinfection/treatment.After treatment, in the microwave all plastics are shredded in the shredding machine. Aftershredding the granular plastic is stored in blue bags till final disposal. These bags should belabeled as with Cytotoxic symbol. There should be a separate storage facility for untreated andtreated waste.4. FINAL DISPOSALDISPOSAL OF NON SHARPS:Black bags containing expired/discarded medicines along with ash from the incinerator are takenaway by the NDMC truck for disposal to a secured landfill everyday.Blue bags:The shredded material so obtained from the shredded is placed and stored in blue bags. It isthen sold for recycling to Govt. authorized vendors every fortnight or earlier if required.DISPOSAL OF SHARPS :All metallic sharps are received in puncture-proof containers.Deep pits for sharps have been made in a safe areas as per guidelines of BMW. Currentlyfourth pit is in use. All sharps are poured in the pits after weighing and recording. Encapsulationoption of disposal of sharps will be started after fourth pit is full.25